“Francia. Franck/reich”. The whole of France with the adjacent parts of England, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. Engraved double-page map by Johannes Metellus, the engraving executed by the Hogenberg workshop, published by Lambert Andreas, Cologne 1597. (PM) 15 x 19 cm.

Meurer, Met map 1. From the first edition of the rare road-atlas “Kronn und Aussbundt aller Wegweiser”, published by Lambert Andreas, Cologne 1597 (cf. Meurer, Atlantes Coloni­enses, pp. 140-46). Before 1597 the plate had been used only for Johannes Metellus’s 1594 “Franciae, Austra-/ Siae.. Geographica..” and for Lambert Andreas’s compilation of 1595 “Hispania, / Francia, / Austrasia..”(cf. Meurer, MET 1 and 3). The verso of our map is blank. – Fine impression of the hitherto barely used plate with full plate tone. Full impression of the plate with good margins at 3 sides, upper margin narrow. A fine copy of an early and extremely rare map!